Rice appointment is fitting rebuke to GOP

Earl Ofari Hutchinson |
6/12/2013, 4:19 p.m.

The political reality is that the legislative business that Congress and the White House must do never has been shut down by any political squabble over a presidential appointee.

Rice will not be Obama’s only appointment in the still early stages of his second term. He will — as all presidents do — see a small revolving door of some cabinet members and agency heads who will leave and must be replaced. There almost certainly will be another Obama pick that will raise some eyebrows and draw inevitable fire from either the GOP or some interests groups.

Like other presidents, Obama will have to weigh carefully the political fallout, if any, from his pick. But as is usually the case, the likelihood of any lasting harm to the administration will be minimal to nonexistent.

It took time, but Rice got the reward that she deserved. As Obama’s eyes and ears on crucial foreign policy matters, and his troubleshooter and adviser on hotspot issues, she will be a key player in the Obama Administration.

This is only fitting for someone who had the right stuff to ably fill the role as the international face of Obama Administration foreign policy decisions if she had gotten the Secretary of State job. It’s an even more fitting rebuke to a GOP that did everything it could to make sure she didn’t.